Blackjack is a far less dramatic game than poker. You are playing against the casino house edge and not against the other players. Card counting is overwhelmingly the favoured advantage technique. The normal blackjack player usually faces a one-half to two percent house edge. A: Blackjack or any casino game (craps, roulette, etc.) is never a fair game because the way the “House Rules” are set, the house always wins over the long haul. In poker, most games are fair as long as the game is being monitored and played against other players and not the vs house.

1. Poker Or Blackjack In Casino
2. Poker Or Blackjack
3. Poker Or Blackjack
4. Is Poker Or Blackjack More Profitable

By Yancy Howard

In the last article we talked about choosing the right games at which to put your money at risk, discipline, good and bad players and how they affect your game, and thought processes that knowledgeable players use to maximize their expectation.

Game selection was the key factor discussed concerning your long term profits. In the BJ example we talked about choosing a game that had the best rules, the deepest cut, the ability to get away with a large bet spread, and a fast robot, (that’s the dealer for those of you that didn’t read the last article) that hopefully makes a lot of mistakes.

Now, say you find this game and start exploiting it. Once you start taking a fair amount of checks from the dealers chip tray, what happens? All of a sudden you seem to have taken on a burst of popularity. The floorman comes over to your table. First, he may introduce himself and ask you a few questions. This usually depends on the size of your bets, but you can be sure that he will be particularly interested in your bet spread, and your reaction to his being there.

In our poker example, if you remember, we were looking to get in a game with lots of technically weak, loose players that call a lot. For the time being though, we are going to leave out the maniac who is constantly raising, sometimes with the “nuts” and sometimes with nothing. We’ll deal with him later.

Again, you start amassing a lot of checks. Do you think for a minute that the casino is going to send someone over to monitor your play? Not unless they have a reason to believe you are cheating. Because you are not in a position to hurt their bottom line, they have no reason to feel threatened.

“There aren’t many situations where
you are going to gain anything
by toking the poker Robot.”

Now back to the Robot situation. There are different types of Robots. Good ones, bad ones, fast ones, slow ones, honest ones, dishonest ones, careless ones, and some that can be manipulated through tokes to cut off less cards, raising your overall expectation, as long as you don’t toke excessively.

There aren’t many situations where you are going to gain anything by toking the poker Robot. I don’t mean that you shouldn’t toke after winning a pot, because that’s expected.

Having a good act is a very important part of your BJ playing technique. If you are betting big money, you have to make them think that you are anything but a knowledgeable player. This is of the utmost importance if you are playing in a single deck game. The count goes up and down so quickly that your method of disguise, and how good it is, will determine your longevity.

The act in the game of poker is not important as far as the casino is concerned, because again, you are no threat to them. Any of your Oscar award winning performances are directed toward your opponents rather than the house. If you are new to the poker scene, one bit of advice would be to always act in the same manner in each and every situation. If you have to take a second or two to figure the odds of a drawing hand, do the same thing when you already have the NUTS. Just don’t hold up the game. Don’t reach for your chips until the person to your right has concluded his transaction. If you are a smoker, you’d do well to light up when you are out of the pot, rather than when involved. We’ll get into this later when we talk about TELLS.

“Don’t reach for your chips until
the person to your right
has concluded his transaction.”

In the first article I stated that you had to play BJ like a machine making all of the correct strategy decisions straight from memory. After you have mastered the counting system that you have chosen, it is then time for you to add the refinements that will buy you playing time. Remember, you can only win big money by betting big money. Betting big money is going to draw attention. How you act while your play is being scrutinized by the Floorman or the Pit Boss determines whether the welcome mat is withdrawn or not.

Here is a crazy act that will buy you a lot of playing time at the BJ tables. Buy yourself a pair of dark glasses and a cane. Get your girlfriend or wife to accompany you to the casino as your guide. Take hold of her arm and have her lead you to the shoe game of your choice where all the cards are dealt up. Don’t be looking around. Stare straight ahead. After all, you’re BLIND! Have her seat you at the center of an empty table so you can get some heads-up play. Greet the Robot cordially and explain that you are blind and that your wife is going to help you play by telling you what your cards are. Tell the Robot that you want all the same color chips, cause you won’t know the difference. Now this is something that you have to practice at home, and put a lot of thought into. You can’t be making mistakes like taking the cut card from the dealer when he offers it to cut the pack cause you can’t see him offering it. You’re BLIND! You must stare straight ahead at all times.

After the hand is dealt, your wife tells you what your two card total is. You of course can see everything that is going on, while keeping the count, making the proper strategy decisions, and sizing your bets. Remember, don’t move your head when looking down to pick-up your chips for the next bet. Feel for them a little. Maybe knock a stack or two over, It won’t matter, their all the same color, remember?

What really makes this whole thing work is, your wife tells you what your cards are, the total only, but never tells you what the Robot’s UP card is! You can, and should, from time to time ask what the UP card is. If you get a snapper or take insurance requiring odd color chips, ask the Robot or your wife to put the odd colors in a separate stack to the side of the rest of your chips. It works best if you ask the Robot for help rather than your wife. Act like you are having a good time. Be a sport and put out a small toke for the dealer if you’ve just won a big bet. Remember, you can move your eyes all you want. Just don’t move your head! Let your wife take your winnings from the betting circle, but you make the bet. Here is a good way to really jump your bet. Say you just won a hand and the count is high, just slide another stack toward the betting circle. Put it near the circle, not quite inside. The Robot will move it inside for you and place it on top of your original bet plus what you’ve just won. Remember, you’re BLIND!

“Being blind or not, any good size
action is going to draw attention.”

Being blind or not, any good size action is going to draw attention. Someone from the pit may come over to introduce themselves. Welcome them! Act happy. Move your head in the direction toward where the voice is coming from. They’ll tell you that they will be glad to assist you in any way. Just say that your wife is your constant companion since you lost your sight from complications of diabetes. If they compliment your game, tell them that you used to love to play BJ before you lost your sight and you are sorry for being a little slow. Be humble, but very nice. Tell them you appreciate how helpful the dealer is.

Needless to say this won’t work in the poker room, but it will at the BJ tables. After all, how many blind blackjack players do you know that can count?

[ Copyright © 1994 – 2020 All Rights Reserved ]
[ This article was originally published in the Summer 1994 issue of Blackjack Reviewmagazine. ]

Poker and blackjack both are two popular and sought after games that players can spend hours upon hours playing at casinos worldwide. Although both games are popular, there are reasons that make poker the top dog over blackjack.

There are some obvious reasons. With poker, a player isn’t playing against the house edge. The house edge is a system of rules that have been put in place that make the casino almost always have the advantage over players at casinos.

When playing blackjack, it’s just the player against the house. Unless you are a skilled card counter, which can arouse all sorts of risks for the player, then your chances of winning at blackjack are not going to be high.

With poker, you have the advantage of being able to play against other players with no house edge in place. This creates az lot more opportunities for winning streaks and for players getting to walk away from the table happy.

Those are the obvious reasons, and then there are also some not-so-obvious reasons that make poker a better game. I am going to go over a couple of reasons why poker is better than blackjack.

1- In Poker, You Get to Pick Your Opponents

When a skilled blackjack player walks into a casino to play, they are going to browse the casino for tables that have good rules. In reality, especially nowadays, there are only going to be so many options for blackjack players.

What I mean when I say that is that the rules concerning how much a player wins with certain types of bets or plays makes a huge difference in the profitability of that game for the player. For example, if the house rule is that a blackjack (a face card and an ace) pays out 3 to 2, the odds of the player doing better over time are significantly better than if it pays out 6 to 5.

The reason for this is simple. If you are playing many hands over time, you’re going to win back a larger percentage of money for every blackjack you hit if you’re paying 3:2 blackjack. Basically, it’s all about playing the right table when it comes to blackjack and has nothing to do with the other people at the table.

If a player does happen to find a decent table, if they want to win, they are going to have to play consistently with good strategy and have the skills that can allow them to count cards. And that’s being able to do so without getting caught. Many casinos frown heavily on card counting and will ban you from their casino if they don’t like what they’re seeing, which is something you can’t do anything about.

If the poker player is skilled and knows what kind of traits to look for in other players, this can be extremely advantageous for the skilled player. If a skilled player spots a table and can tell the other players are stumbling drunk, the skilled player can join and typically completely dominate the poker table.

This is one of many examples, but an obvious one. Blackjack tables do not have this option. A poker player can walk into a room and spot two tables: a table with skilled players, and next to it, a table of not-so-skilled players. A skilled poker player will obviously sit with the not-so-skilled players, and then it’s all downhill from there (for the unskilled players!).

Alternatively, an unskilled player has the option to choose to sit with more skilled players for the sake of being able to help improve their game, which is an option that isn’t available for blackjack players because blackjack players are just playing against the house, which has a specific set of rules that govern how the dealer has to play.

Many people might ask the question: how does a person spot poor poker players? The answer is that you have to simply just pay attention, stay mindful, and be aware of every single person at the poker table that you are playing against.

If you have sat down at a poker table once or twice, it really isn’t all that difficult to tell the good from the poor. If you can’t seem to place your finger on an opponents skill level, just keep playing. The more you play, the more that you are going to inevitably learn.

If you are playing blackjack, again, none of these options are possible, making it difficult to feel like you really have a choice in who you are playing against. Of course with poker, if you only play at casinos and poker rooms, there still is the chance of having a limited selection in choosing your opponents.

There will always be good and bad tables, but keep in mind that there is a way to always have a good table. How can one achieve this miraculous event? Host a poker tournament, and while doing so, only invite players over that you know have a skill level less than yours!

2- Online Poker

So before I say anything else on this note, it is possible to play both blackjack and poker in US online casinos. Both are typically available, free of charge, where you can play for real money. They are as easy to access as typing in a URL on your web browser.

Poker Or Blackjack In Casino

There is a major downfall however when it comes to trying to play blackjack online, and that is that the software used for online blackjack play prevents all players from being able to have the capacity to count cards.

For a skilled blackjack player, one that has the capacity to be able to hit a winning streak, more often than not their capacity to do so depends on how well they can count cards. So when playing online, unlike real blackjack at a casino, the computer will often times shuffle all the cards, or shoe, after every single hand. So trying to count cards online just becomes a waste of time.

Poker Or Blackjack

How does card counting work in helping a player win? A good card counter will keep track of the ratio of high cards and low cards remaining in the shoe. Once the ratio of high cards to low cards gets so high, a player can actually play blackjack with a mathematical advantage against the house.

If the cards get shuffled, it completely eliminates the ability for a player to be able to do any of this. When it comes to playing poker online, it is no different really than playing at a casino or with friends. The deck of cards is shuffled after every single deal in real life as well as online, so your chances of winning or losing are the same online as they are at a casino.

Poker Or Blackjack

You can also play poker for free online or by using free poker apps if you’re a beginner and are just wanting to improve your skills. If you do decide to try and play at a free money table, a free poker game online, just be aware that nearly every single player that you play against is absolutely terrible (or is playing like a crazy person).

I say this because if you are really trying to learn the game, playing with terrible players might not be the best option for you. You want to play with people that have a higher skill level if you want to get better, which means you need to play for money.

Another option to get better is to read books or watch instructional videos. There are plenty of free tutorial videos on YouTube that are actually very beneficial, even for a skilled player.

Getting to understand facial recognition is a very, very valuable skill to have if you are wanting to become a more advanced poker player.

Is Poker Or Blackjack More Profitable

Do you have other reasons why poker is better than blackjack that I have missed? Or do you disagree and think blackjack is the better game of the two? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!